Food Insecurity

Chattanooga Food Bank is taking a new approach to an online fundraiser.

Ongoing covid-19 pandemic has impacted many companies, including our local food bank.

News 12'sjoeli poole spoke with the organization asking for the community's help, so they can continue to serve the community.

The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on every business and every person.

Throughout the year, the chattanooga area food bank has continued to provide for our local needs.

But with the inability to host live events, they are now looking to the community to help them- through a virtual fundraiser.

Shelley armstrong " we have reimagined our biggest fundraiser, hullabowloo, as an online auction to keep up with social distancing.

We haven't been able to bring everyone together in two years now.

We took all the wonderful auction items people already donated and added to that to have our hullabowloo reimagined as an online auction.

We're gonna have a lot of really cool content involved with the auction, interviews with our ceos."

Since covid-19 has forced many businesses and organizations to rely on virtual resources, the food bank has utilized a local tech company to help bring the auction to a whole new virtual level.

David rowland "we created a 24/7 live stream that we're going to have so people anytime can check in and see what's going on, watch bands that we have pre recorded, see auction items and see what the food bank does for the community.

We're going to make it a seamless opportunity for people to join on and donate to a good cause."

Over the last year, the food bank says that our area has seen a very significant increase in food insecurity, mostly as a result of the pandemic armstrong "after covid pandemic we saw such a big increase in need, about 40% or more.

The need is tremendous throughout our 20 counties' services area and beyond.

Hullabowloo was a critical event to raise funds to meet our summer feeding needs."

The hullabowloo auction will begin april 16th at 6p.m.

And end on april 25th.

For information on how you can help the community by participating in this exciting event, go to our website, wdef dot com.

In chattanooga, joeli poole.

News 12 now.

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